Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Arizona! - Painted Desert and Petrified Forest

Now besides Sedona, the other thing that caught my eye while researching this area was the Petrified Forest. 

Pieces of wood preserved from the dinosaur era. Doesn't sound exciting but when I saw pictures from this place I immediately wanted to go.

It looks like Mars. Or some out of this world planet. 
















When we started the day, I could tell Toni was a bit grumpy. We've been friends a long time and so when I asked what was wrong she confided in me that she was feeling a tad constipated and hence the grumpiness. 

I quickly responded with "Oh great, you're constipated and I'm taking you to see petrified logs. You gonna be ok?" 

I was serious, but the minute it came out of my mouth we both busted up laughing and continued on our journey. That's why I love me some Toni, we can always laugh about stupid shit.

It was such a cool place to visit and HUGE. We drove through the park and stopped at different spots along the way. I never quite understood why people loved the desert until this trip. Its beautiful in so many ways. Open skies, expansive views, wispy clouds to name a few.

Definitely recommend this park and one of the things I love most about Arizona is the ability to drive a mere 1 1/2 hours and end up in an entirely different landscape.

Arizona! - Grand Canyon

Ok, so where were we? Ah yes, the Grand Canyon. That glorious hole. 

So crazy the whole time we hiked down it, it didn't look real. Imagine 350 million years ago it was actually underwater. Amazing.










I had noticed on the map that there was a snack bar at the other end of the Grand Canyon. After hiking all we could think of was Mmmmmmm snack bar. 

The tram drive was lengthy but we got a great view of different sides of this hole. Its crazy how big it is. Did I mention that this part is just the South Rim?

Got to the snack bar to find there were no hot dogs. I thought Toni was gonna cry. So we ran back to catch the tram that dropped us off and we....


...got a burrito instead

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Fantasy Fest

Got a little sidetracked with a little bit of this





And a little bit of that. More Arizona stories coming. Tutu-ed out!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Arizona! - Grand Canyon


Before hike.


And after...



Arizona! 'ze trip report - Flagstaff


Mike's Pike - Art Gallery stay


Iphone panorama shot of the inside


Cool sculpture installation in the entry


Espresso machine at the gallery. Chilly in the am.


A good hearty breakfast before hike to the big hole.


And we made it! Grand Canyon!


Arizona! 'ze Trip Report


The tram ride at MIA. Oddly beautiful


Ginormous Moooooon on the drive from Phoenix


"The Fallen" first cool thing seen in Flagstaff


It is Saturday and I'm tired after a busy work night. Right now my landlord is planning to tear a hole in my closet so I can have a new AC unit. He's a little crazy and cheap. So instead of focusing on how he's gonna rip a hole in my closet near all my belongings, I'm gonna update this blog instead.

Before this trip began, I had to update my phone. My flip phone had finally started to come undone and not a moment too soon. I held on long enough to get the iphone 5 and can I say that I am absolutely alarmed at how much I love this device. 

At first, I was tapping on it like a 60 year old woman trying to turn something on but I have progressed.  

As a traveler the two things that I love the most about it are the camera and the GPS app. Instagram is my new crack and I have no idea how I lived without the GPS before now. At one point on this trip, I thought I had lost the phone and was so terribly sad. It disturbed me how attached I got to it in one week. 

So there is my plug for an iphone. I am also currently downloading an app so Toni and I can share photos at any time. All of these pics were taken with such phone. 

The ride to Phoenix was one of the smoothest transitions through MIA in decades. We both landed from different cities in Phoenix around sunset and started the drive to our first destination Flagstaff.

Flagstaff reminded me of Boulder but without the trust-a-farian attitude. It was a quaint mountain town where people just call it "Flag". I had found an art gallery to sleep in on a great site called AirBnB. A place where people can rent out their house or a room to complete strangers. All I had to do was fill out a profile first and wait to get accepted. I credit such acceptance to me saying that I liked books.

So as we met our first host and she showed us around the gallery, she flipped a switch on a plywood box and told us it needed to warm up a minute. After she gave us the rounds of the place she told me to go into said box. 

It was pitch black and as I went in and I could hear her say, "Ignore the first curtain, push past the second one, keep going..." I thought, "well this is an interesting way to start - being pushed inside a black box by a stranger.  But it was magical.

Once past the two curtains, a lighted show appeared before my eyes and "Whoa!" came out of my mouth. Hundreds of little soldier heads made of wax and lights hung from the ceiling. I immediately ran back out cause I needed my camera. I also grabbed Toni to come in and check it out.

This was going to be a great trip.





Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Arizona



I haven't had much time to post pics, but this one adequately sums up the trip. 

It was amazing. 

Love, Love LOVE Arizona and Sedona in particular.

It's been a re-entry period and once I get things squared away, I'll post more.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Giddy Up



Almost done over packing. Arizona here I come!